Chambers solicitors fraud trial told
interpreters went unpaid
An interpreter working for
Chambers solicitors in Bradford was not paid for up to six months, she claimed.
Iranian Fatima Amir Kamali,
who came to the UK in 2008, was employed by the firm for two years on a
freelance basis.
She told a Sheffield Crown Court
jury she initially went unpaid when she began working for Chambers in January,
2011.
When asked for how long she
replied: "Five or six months."
The prosecution in the
conspiracy trial of Mohammed Ayub, 55, his brother Mohammed Riaz, 48, and Neil
Frew, 48, allege interpreters were routinely not paid.
Miss Kamali said she was
booked by immigration case workers at the firm and after meetings was asked to
submit invoices to Chambers principal lawyer Ayub.
She complained to case
workers and became "frustrated" as she had to pay her travel expenses
out of her own pocket.
When she eventually
confronted Ayub face-to-face she said he explained that the Legal Aid Agency
did not provide funding until cases were closed.
After "five or six
months" she picked up a cheque signed by Ayub with no details of her
invoices. She continued working for Chambers until the end of 2013.
Miss Kamali said she had
"never heard" of Legal Support Services which the prosecution claim
was a sham company set up by the three defendants to dishonestly claim £600,000
from the Legal Aid Agency in interpreters' legal fees.
She also said she had never
come across Riaz who purportedly was the owner of LSS.
Cross-examined by Philip
Hackett QC, for Ayub, she admitted he had shown concern for her difficulties at
the face-to-face meeting and was "polite" to her.
But she had sent him emails
and telephoned him in trying to get paid and she did not view his response as
prompt.
Ayub, of Aireville Drive, Shipley,
Riaz, of Southfield Square, Manningham, and Chambers employee Frew, of Hoyle Court
Drive, Baildon all deny conspiracy to defraud.
No comments:
Post a Comment